There has been a succession of bureaucratic scandals, such as the altering and concealing of official documents, sexual harassment and bribery. Why do these things happen, and how can we prevent them?
The Yomiuri Shimbun asked Atsuko Muraki, a former administrative vice minister at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, for her thoughts. Her nearly 40-year career in civil service was marred in 2009-10 when she faced false charges in a case in which the prosecutor actually altered evidence. The following are excerpts from the interview.
After my case, a few prosecutor generals offered me their apologies and thanks.
Prosecutors aren't supposed to fail or make mistakes, so even if they notice an error, they can't correct it. Even if they noticed a reason for the "disease" in the system, it used to be difficult to make improvements from within. My case motivated reforms. That was why they thanked me.
But far from being rooted out, diseases not just in prosecutors' offices but also other organizations seem to be running rampant. The Finance Ministry's alteration of approved documents was especially shocking. Documents are important in government work. They form the basis for future work, and are essential for verifying policies. I thought: "I can't believe it. Did they really do that?"
Seeing this string of scandals, I get the strong impression that bureaucrats' public stances are now quite far from their real intentions. Organizations disgraced by scandals had huge discrepancies between the two. I suppose that officials at these organizations probably thought it was wise for them to use either one depending on the circumstances.
For example, "We shouldn't act based on someone's unspoken intention" is bureaucrats' public stance, while "It's only natural to show such a preferential attitude to those in power" is their real intention. Likewise, "We can't allow sexual harassment" is a public stance for them, while "Even so, something like this should be forgiven" is their real intention.
The problem is that bureaucrats have touted their public stances without making efforts to bring them closer to reality, and instead expected to handle issues based on their real intentions behind the scenes.
On this front, private businesses have made more progress because their compliance with the law has been severely questioned. They don't choose between one or the other depending on the circumstances, and if they can't actually act according to their public stances, they explain why. This is called "comply or explain."
It is dangerous to continue switching between public stances and real intentions depending on the circumstances in a time when politics, the economy, science, technology and people's values are all rapidly changing. It is often the case that what we consider nothing but a public stance is not always seen that way by the wider society. Organizations disgraced by scandals have failed to notice the differences between their own standards and those of society, and eventually society leaves them behind.
Common features behind scandals
I also strongly believe that organizations hit by scandals have some things in common. They have power and authority and take pride in doing respectable work for justice and the public. They deal with confidential information and seldom disclose it, in the process shielding themselves from outside eyes. And they are not permitted to fail or make mistakes.
Prosecutors are a prime example. They are defenders of justice who cannot fail because a lot is expected of them. Once they bring charges, they overreach in trying to get a guilty verdict. Even if they find an error later, they cannot take it back and instead cover it up. Because they don't admit their mistakes, no knowledge learned from lessons is shared.
The same thing is true for the police, the Finance Ministry and the Defense Ministry. Those in the media and respected professions such as teaching or medicine are also at risk of this.
When a mistake is found, a problem gets even worse if people concerned pretend it never happened. This can be seen in the government's concealment of official documents. Among other cases, press conferences offered by Nihon University over a scandal involving its American football team showed poor responses after it came to light.
Systems, training key
So what should we do?
The important thing is to stop separating public stances from real intentions, and to make efforts to bring the former closer to the latter.
Now government entities and private companies alike are promoting their work style reforms, but unless the actual workloads change, we will have no choice but to do overtime outside the office.
Are there any tasks or meetings we can reduce? By seriously thinking about these things we will close the gap between the public stance [organizations] present and their real intentions. And the public stance itself will also change from ideals or cosmetic gestures to reflect the real intentions that people [in the organization] hold deep in their hearts.
There are two effective concrete measures to realize this.
The first is to create a system in which we are forced to act according to our public stance.
Although prosecutors and police officers know fair investigations are needed, they have a strong desire to find criminals quickly. But if a system is created in which audio and video of the entire investigative process is recorded, they would not be able to conduct investigations in an excessively forceful manner.
The same is true regarding government subsidies. People naturally tend to read the intention of politicians and those in power. But if some conditions are imposed -- subsidies are granted based on clear guidelines in a specific order, any deviation from those guidelines must be accounted for, and the entire process is made public -- there would be no room for people to act on their reading of the intention of politicians and those in power.
The other aspect is education. In response to a sexual harassment incident, the Finance Ministry held a training session for its senior officials. Sexual harassment is not a form of social lubrication or communication in the workplace, but a clear human rights violation backed by the power structure. It is vital to make them realize that it is an important value for organizations by repeating such training sessions.
The combination of such a system and education can prevent the separation of public stances from real intentions.
Don't go overboard
After a string of scandals, the "deterioration" of bureaucracy has been decried. But if someone said that bureaucrats are not thinking about the public good, I would have to disagree. Rather, there are many bureaucrats who are actually serious about and loyal to their jobs.
So why do these people do things that seem so strange to the public eye? Maybe they do not recognize the difference between their own standards and those of society after working in highly homogeneous organizations full of the same kinds of people. The more authority an organization has, the more insular its thoughts and actions tend to become. Therefore, how much they interact with people with different senses of value and expose themselves to outside eyes is important. Diversity is the key to reviving organizations.
When a scandal happens, we need to investigate the cause, clarify where the blame lies and clearly apologize. Then it is also essential to put energy into figuring out how to prevent the same thing from happening again.
What we need to be careful of is that excessively seeking to place blame and bashing those deemed responsible not only makes the problem invisible, but also crushes the organization. It would be unfortunate for society if capable people no longer joined necessary organizations.
Of course, determining responsibility is important. But preventing recurrences is more important. I want us to have the wisdom to calmly analyze the causes of scandals, and use the lessons learned from them to move forward.
-- This interview was conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer Ritsuko Inokuma.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 4, 2018)
-- Atsuko Muraki / Former administrative vice minister at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry
Muraki, 62, joined the then Labor Ministry (now the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry) in 1978. In 2009, she was arrested and indicted by the special investigation squad of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office for allegedly drafting and issuing documents bearing an official seal fraudulently.
She was detained in the Osaka Detention House for nearly six months. Because a ministry certificate was used when a fake organization for the disabled abused the postal discount system, Muraki, who was the section manager with the authority to issue such certificates at the time, was accused of instructing her subordinate to create the certificate. This was later found to be a false charge due to an unfair investigation. The incident was a huge shock to prosecutors. Muraki became an administrative vice minister of the ministry in 2013, and retired from office in 2015.
She now serves as an outside board member for Itochu Corp., promotes the "Wakakusa Project" to support struggling young women, and is an adviser to "Kyosei Shakai o Tsukuru Ai no Kikin" (Foundation for Creation of Inclusive Society), a foundation that supports disabled repeat offenders.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
